AtmosZero · Loveland, Colorado (onsite) · Full-time · Engineer III or Senior Engineer I
Reports To: VP Engineering
Why this role exists
Industrial steam runs manufacturing - breweries, dairies, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals - and almost all of it still comes from a boiler design that predates the jet engine. Much of the U.S. fleet is decades past its prime, facing volatile fuel costs, tightening limits on new combustion, and no cheap way to add capacity.
Boiler 2.0 is a modular heat pump that makes steam at up to 185°C from electricity and air alone. Because it moves heat rather than creating it, it returns roughly 2 units of steam energy per unit of electricity, against well under one for combustion. It drops into the old boiler's footprint and scales by adding modules - no stack, no fuel line, no combustion permit. Units are in production now in Loveland, Colorado.
The next cost step is mechanical. We need to turn proven system architecture and first-of-a-kind hardware into compact, serviceable, supplier-ready designs that can be built repeatedly at a much lower cost. That means making hard packaging trades, creating production-quality CAD and drawings, designing piping and structures that survive real loads, and giving suppliers a package they can quote and manufacture without guessing. You would own a real share of that work.
Level and scope
We are hiring one person into this role at whichever of three levels best matches the scope, independence, and judgment demonstrated through the interview process. Apply once and we will place you.
- Engineer III. You independently execute significant mechanical design work packages with limited supervision, such as equipment layouts, piping, structures, detailed assemblies, or supplier-ready drawings. You exercise sound design judgment, coordinate defined interfaces, and consistently carry work from requirements through release and build support.
- Senior Engineer I. You lead complex mechanical design initiatives through ambiguity, such as integrated product packaging, major subsystem design, or design-to-cost work. You own the work end to end, coordinate suppliers and external design resources, mentor teammates, and influence design decisions beyond your immediate area of responsibility.
If you are between levels or arrived at this expertise by an unusual route, apply anyway.
What you will do
Own mechanical design and packaging
- Develop and maintain integrated 3D CAD layouts for modular industrial heat-pump systems, including equipment placement, piping, frames, enclosures, service access, lifting, shipping, and installation interfaces.
- Translate system and component requirements into production-ready parts, assemblies, fabrication drawings, installation drawings, bills of material, and controlled design releases.
- Own mechanical interfaces among heat exchangers, compressors, valves, pumps, piping, electrical equipment, controls hardware, skids, and enclosures.
- Run packaging and configuration studies that balance footprint, serviceability, reliability, manufacturability, lead time, and cost.
Design for cost and production
- Turn cost-down concepts into credible mechanical designs, supplier-ready technical packages, and executable engineering changes.
- Lead DFMA and value-engineering work to reduce part count, simplify fabrication and assembly, standardize components, and remove avoidable cost without compromising safety or performance.
- Work with manufacturing and supply-chain teams to incorporate build feedback, supplier capability, competitive bids, and should-cost insights into the design.
- Support ECO execution, drawing release, configuration control, and closure of design-review actions as the product moves from first-of-a-kind builds to repeatable production.
Engineer piping, structures, and interfaces
- Design piping, frames, supports, equipment mounts, and mechanical interfaces using appropriate engineering calculations and applicable codes and standards.
- Perform or coordinate stress, thermal-expansion, load, tolerance, and structural analyses; know when a hand calculation is enough and when specialist analysis is required.
- Define fabrication and assembly requirements, including materials, welds, connections, tolerances, inspection needs, and drawing notes that suppliers can execute.
- Partner with thermal-systems engineers to convert process conditions and component selections into practical mechanical geometry and interfaces.
Work with suppliers and external specialists
- Prepare RFQ and design packages that allow suppliers to quote, design, fabricate, and verify engineered equipment with minimal ambiguity.
- Coordinate external design consultants, fabricators, and component suppliers; review their models, drawings, calculations, and proposals for technical fit and completeness.
- Support supplier visits, design reviews, build troubleshooting, commissioning, and field issue resolution. Expect occasional travel to customer and supplier sites.
Mature the product
- Lead mechanical design reviews, DFMEA, technical risk reduction, and action closure through release and validation.
- Capture lessons from fabrication, assembly, testing, and field operation, then turn those lessons into controlled design improvements.
- Identify patentable inventions and help turn them into invention disclosures and filings.
What success looks like in your first year
- In your first 90 days you can navigate the full product CAD structure, understand the major mechanical and process interfaces, and own a defined cost-down or packaging work package.
- By six months you have released a supplier-ready design package, coordinated the supporting analysis and reviews, and driven the package through quoting or fabrication.
- By twelve months a mechanical design change you led is validated in hardware and is reducing cost, assembly effort, footprint, lead time, or service burden in a production-intent system.
What we need from you
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or a related discipline, and relevant experience at the level you are applying for.
- Strong command of mechanical design fundamentals, including machine design, materials, tolerances, fits, fasteners, welded structures, piping, and load paths.
- Demonstrated experience creating complex 3D assemblies and production-quality drawings in SolidWorks or a comparable parametric CAD and PDM environment.
- Experience taking mechanical hardware from requirements and layout through detailed design, supplier release, fabrication, assembly, and troubleshooting.
- Ability to perform and review first-principles calculations for loads, pressure, thermal expansion, stress, deflection, tolerance stack-up, and component sizing.
- Experience producing the documentation that mechanical decisions live in: specifications, drawings, BOMs, interface definitions, calculations, ECOs, and design-review records.
- Ability to work directly with fabricators and equipment suppliers, resolve incomplete information, and convert supplier feedback into controlled design decisions.
- Comfort with the ambiguity and pace of a startup building physical hardware, where the answer is often that nobody has one yet.
What would help
We do not expect anyone to have all of this. The first two are the ones we would most like to see.
- Deep SolidWorks experience with large assemblies, configurations, drawings, weldments, routing, BOMs, and PDM-controlled release.
- Experience designing packaged industrial equipment with piping, pressure equipment, heat exchangers, rotating equipment, structural frames, and service-access constraints.
- Working knowledge of ASME B31 piping requirements, pressure-boundary interfaces, welding and fabrication practices, and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing.
- Experience with structural, piping-stress, thermal-expansion, or mechanical FEA tools and the judgment to interpret their results.
- Experience with industrial heat pumps, refrigeration, steam systems, process skids, HVAC equipment, turbomachinery packages, or comparable engineered-to-order equipment.
- Experience leading DFMA, value engineering, cost reduction, supplier qualification, and competitive sourcing for complex hardware.
- Experience coordinating external engineering consultants and reviewing third-party calculations, models, and drawings.
- Experience supporting prototype builds, commissioning, certification, or field troubleshooting of industrial equipment.
- A graduate degree, professional engineering license, or patents you helped develop.
Compensation and benefits
Base salary range:
- Engineer III [$110,000 - $165,000]
- Senior Engineer I [$125,000 - $180,000]
Where an offer lands within a range depends on experience, demonstrated capability, and interview performance.
Equity: Stock option grant
Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage; retirement plan; paid time off and holidays; parental leave.